LibGuides: Respiratory Care: How to Search

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Search Strategies

Once you are in a database, you will need to convert your topic or research question into language the computer understands. The following search techniques will help you with this process.

The first step is to determine keywords that sum up the main concepts of your topic. Keywords are typically nouns or noun phrases. If you phrase your topic as a research question or thesis, you can often pull keywords from the topic sentence.

Example topic: In older patients experiencing asthma exacerbations, does the use of mechanical ventilation decrease duration of hospitalization?

Keywords: older patients, asthma exacerbations, mechanical ventilation, hospitalization

Sometimes the keywords from your original topic sentence will not produce the types of results you want. When that happens, try to think of related keywords. These can be other words that have similar meanings, words that are broader (good for when you have too few results), or words that are more specific (good for when you have too many results).

Example related keywords:

Similar: elderly, aged, artificial respiration
Broader: adults, asthma

Truncation (shortening your keyword) makes the search engine look at other possible forms of a word for which you are searching. Use truncation to find plurals and variations on the endings of a word. To truncate, use the asterisk symbol: *. You can enter this symbol by hitting Shift and 8 on the keyboard at the same time or by hitting the asterisk symbol on the number pad.

Search Examples

You want to find the following terms:
ventilation, ventilator, ventilators

Use ventilat*
You want to find the following terms:
exacerbation, exacerbations

Use exacerbation*
You want to find the following terms:
asthma, asthmatic, asthmatics

Use asthma*

To find an exact phrase (i.e., words in a row in an exact order), enclose the phrase in quotation marks.

Examples

"respiratory care"
"mechanical ventilation"
"asthma exacerbations"

Combine keywords by putting the word AND between them. This requires that both keywords be present in any found articles, but not necessarily as a phrase (i.e., words in a row in an exact order). Entries that include keywords connected by AND are referred to as search statements.

Example Search Statements

asthma* AND "mechanical ventilation" AND elderly AND hospital*
"asthma exacerbation" AND "mechanical ventilation" AND aged AND hospitalization

Note: If you use the Advanced Search feature of a database, AND is the default connector between the entry boxes:

Keyword searches rely on your ability to guess what the correct terms are for your topic. In health sciences, sometimes this can be tricky. In cases where your keyword searches are not working, it is a good idea to determine the correct subject terms.

Many databases assign subject headings to groups of similar articles. If you determine the correct subject term for a topic, you can use that term to find other, similar results. In CINAHL, these subject headings are called CINAHL Headings. In MEDLINE, these subject headings are called MeSH.

The searches used to identify CINAHL Headings and MeSH are very similar. The tutorial in the next section walks you through this process.

Using the CINAHL/MeSH Headings Feature in the New EBSCOhost User Interface - Tutorial

CINAHL and MeSH Subject Headings are assigned bsaed on article content and help you retrieve more relevant results. In this tutorial, we will look at how to search using the CINAHL Headings feature in the new EBSCO user interfaces. The functionality demonstrated i identical to that when searching MeSH headings in the MEDLINE databases. We'll begin by searching for Subject Headings. Click on the CINAHL Headings or MeSH link below the search boxes on the Advanced search screen. Enter your terms in the search box, select to display headings based on Relevancy ranking or Term begins with, and click the Magnifying glass. A list of appropriate CINAHL Subject Headings, or subject terms, appears, defaulted to Relevancy Ranked. In this example we will use Pressure Ulcer as it is the suggested heading for the decubitus search term.

To the right of the subject terms list is a Major Concept option which, when selected, will restrick results to those articles in which your chosen subject is a major focus. The Tree Views, or hierarchical arrangement of subject headings, are displayed when you click the subject heading. You can also view the scope note for a heading from the record. Click the back link to return to your list of subject terms.

Check the box of a subject term to view the Subheadings, which may be selected to further refine the subject. If a subjeading is not selected, all subheadings are searched. Click the scope note icon to view the scope not for a subheading. Make your sleections and click Add to search. In this example, we have selected the subheadings of Complications or Diagnosis or Drug Therapy.

Your search strategy is added to the first guided-style search box. Next we will browse for more headings to add to our search. Click the X in the CINAHL Headings search box to clear your previous search. Enter your second search terma nd click the magnifying glass to run your search. In this example, we will search for CINAHL headings related to Diabetes Mellitus. The list of subject headings related to Diabetes Mellitus is displayed. Click on the term to view the Tree Views or check the box to view all Subheadings. The option to Explode is present for this term. The Explode option, when selected, will search not only Diabetes Mellitus, but also the more specific terms. If desired, Major Concept and specific subheadings could be selected. In this example, we will selecte Explode and click Add to search to add the search strategy to the second guided-style search box.

With our CINAHL Headings added to the guided-style search boxes, we select ot combine our search terms with AND and click Search. A result list is displayed. The search is displayed in the Search box. During your session, you can return to your search under Recent Activity in My dashboard on the left. When signed into your personal MyEBSCO account, you can permanently save your search by clicking the bookmark icon in the Search History tab under Recent Activity. To sign in or create a personal account, click the MyEBSCO link to get started. Your saved search appears under the Searches tab of the Saved area of the dashboard. Click the menu icon to edit the details of your search or add it to a project.

For more information, visit EBSCO Connect .

Our EBSCO subscription provides access to five databases that may be useful for health science research:

Academic Search Complete
CINAHL (Cumulative Index of Nursing Allied and Health Literature)
Health Source Consumer Edition
MEDLINE
APA PsycArticles

EBSCO allows you to search across any combination of these databases. To do this, click on Choose Databases Link

This opens a new window that contains all of the databases that EBSCO provides. Choose as many databases as you like. If you are uncertain of which database to choose, click the arrow next to a database title to see a description.

Choose Database List

Once you have selected all of the databases you wish to search, click OK. You will be returned to the original search page where you can enter your terms. Please note: some specialized search features and limits (e.g., using MeSH) are not available in a cross-database search.